What’s a testnet?
Prior to launching a new public blockchain, it importantis to test the blockchain to be sure it will work seamlessly and to ensure it is secure against attacks from bad actors
A blockchain testnet is the trial version of a network that is launched some years, months or few weeks before the main version of the blockchain (the mainnet).
It is aimed at looking for bugs and weakness as well as testing the capacity of the new blockchain under high volume activity.
A testnet uses the same technology and is the exact prototype of the ‘real’ blockchain in several ways — for instance, you can send and receive coins, stake, farm tokens and provide liquidity while connecting to various dApps under development on the testnet Blockchain.
The major difference is that the testnet uses test tokens which have no real value. Also, there is no risk of loosing your assets if something goes wrong.
Once the blockchain have been sufficiently tested for bugs and stress, the blockchain developer can then proceed to mainnet.
A clear example is the APTOS testnet which many of us participated. In other words, we contributed to the development of the APTOS blockchain and APTOS was magnanimous to reward our efforts.